LONGTIME HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATOR WAS ART, CULTURE EXPERT

He did not revel in his many achievements as a longtime San Diego educator, as a long-standing member of the San Diego Museum of Art and its Artists’ Guild and African Arts Council, as a force behind the Wesley Foundation on local college campuses, as a member of the board of the San Diego-Tema (Ghana) Sister City Society and the San Diego International Sister Cities Association or as a leader in his church.

Instead, Mr. Saunders was eagerly anticipating helping to complete a history of the artists’ guild in celebration of the Balboa Park centennial in 2015.

And he intended to be part of a video celebrating the upcoming 100th anniversary for the Wesley Foundation campus ministry in the California-Pacific Conference of the United Methodist Church. He was also proposing new projects for the sister-city group.

“He was very much a man of the future,” Jody Abssy of the artists’ guild said. “He was really worth celebrating.”

Mr. Saunders died of congestive heart failure Jan. 17 in a hospital.

It was the same illness, his daughter said, that took the life of Mr. Saunders’ identical twin brother, Robert, four years ago.

The twins were born in San Diego July 14, 1926, to George Leon and Mae Ellen Saunders.

Earl Saunders graduated from Hoover High School in 1944 and served in the Navy during World War II. He stayed in the active reserves and was called back to serve during the Korean conflict.

He received a bachelor’s degree in art with an education minor at San Diego State College in 1950, a master of fine arts in sculpture from the California College of Arts and Crafts (now California College of the Arts) in Oakland in 1953, a masters of religious education from Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley in 1958 and a master’s in sacred theology from Boston University in 1961.

He taught art in Seneca Falls, N.Y., from 1961 to 1965, when he returned to San Diego.

“He loved his city and took pride in his deep roots here,” said his daughter, Victoria Plettner-Saunders.

His theology education might have led him to become a pastor, but, his daughter said, he decided he didn’t want to be identified narrowly as a pastor alone when he could influence more people through the arts.

Teaching at Lincoln High School in the turbulent 1960s and ’70s, he refused to leave the predominantly African-American campus when other Caucasian teachers fled in the wake of student demands for more black instructors, Plettner-Saunders said.

Instead, he helped his students prepare a “peaceful protest” after the assassination of civil-rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. They made artistic posters to express their feelings. “His strong belief in civil and human rights caused him to work toward equality during the civil-rights movement in San Diego through his deeply rooted relationship with the United Methodist Church–United Project Understanding, Methodist Student Movement and the Heartland Human Relations Association,” his daughter said.

Gary Anderson, director of the Wesley Foundation at UCSD, said “Earl was a great inspiration to our campus ministry, bringing his unique theological perspective, insight and many years of experience.”

Vas Prabhu, former director of education at the San Diego Museum of Art, said Mr. Saunders stressed “the importance of stepping out of the classroom and engaging with parents and the community in their work.”

Mr. Saunders taught at Lincoln for 21 years and later taught at Mira Mesa High School from 1986 until his retirement in 1991.

“He always had a keen interest in culture and art,” Robert Matthews of the San Diego-Tema Sister City Society said.

Vira Williams, a past president of the society, said Mr. Saunders had his students design the “Tema trunk” filled with artifacts and taken to schools to tell something about San Diego’s African sister city. “He was one of the hardest workers,” she said.

In 2011, Mr. Saunders received the first “Artissimo” Hall of Fame Award for Excellence in Teaching and Leadership presented by the San Diego City/County Art Education Association, which he had headed from 1992 to the early 2000s.

“He really carried the banner for a long number of years,” said Carol Lockwood, also a past president of the group which helps art teachers in the county’s 43 school districts.

Mr. Saunders is survived by his wife, Caroline Cooper Saunders; daughters Victoria Plettner-Saunders of San Diego, Cathryn Spetter of El Cajon and Elizabeth Saunders of New Jersey; and two grandchildren.

A celebration of his life was held Saturday at La Mesa First United Methodist Church, 4690 Palm Ave. Donations may be made to the church foundation.